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Author: Maya

Sudha Bharadwaj’s bail plea on medical grounds withdrawn, SC asks her to file one on merits

Sudha Bharadwaj’s bail plea on medical grounds withdrawn, SC asks her to file one on merits

Scroll.in / by Scroll Staff

The top court said that she had a ‘good case’ for bail on merits and that she should file a plea on those grounds instead.
Lawyer-activist Sudha Bharadwaj on Thursday withdrew her interim bail plea on medical grounds after the Supreme Court refused to entertain her petition in the Bhima Koregaon case, reported The Hindu. Bharadwaj is currently imprisoned at the Byculla Women’s prison in Mumbai.
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“You Have Good Case On Merits”, Remarks SC, Allows Sudha Bhardhwaj To Withdraw Her Plea For Interim Bail On Medical Grounds

Live Law / by Mehal Jain

The Supreme Court on Thursday dismissed as withdrawn activist-lawyer Sudha Bhardwaj’s plea for interim bail, granting liberty to approach the court again if need arises.
“I am an undertrial in custody since 2 years. Even the charges have not been framed. I am 58 years old and I am seeking your indulgence for interim bail on medical grounds…”, submitted Senior Advocate Vrinda Grover for the petitioner.
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The Only Institution Capable of Stopping the Death of Democracy Is Aiding it

The Only Institution Capable of Stopping the Death of Democracy Is Aiding it

The Wire / by A.P. Shah

The Supreme Court seems to have lost its way.
I speak here today of what I believe is one of the most troubling developments of our time: the decline of the Indian Supreme Court. As a former judge, at the very least I believe it is my duty to ring some warning bells…
This abuse of the UAPA and constant rejection of bail applications of accused as a means of silencing opposing voices can be seen most in the Bhima Koregaon cases, where mere thought has been elevated to a crime.
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Statement by Culture Workers Support Trust: Attempt to quell voices who speak out through art

Statement by Culture Workers Support Trust: Attempt to quell voices who speak out through art

Kabir Kala Manch performance, 2019

The Caravan / by Culture Workers Trust

The Culture Workers’ Support Trust (CWST) condemns the harassment of members of the creative community.
Statement Against State Repression of Culture Workers:
In Solidarity with Rahul Roy, Saba Dewan, Kabir Kala Manch, and Art Students facing harassment and false charges by the state, who are being targeted for exercising their democratic right to raise their voice against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act 2019, the National Register of Citizens, the National Population Register and state-sponsored brutality during the anti-CAA protests.
Read more / Full statement

The Making of Varavara Rao: Parts Seven and Eight

The Making of Varavara Rao: Parts Seven and Eight


VV with wife Hemalatha and the author

Indian Cultural Forum / by N Venugopal Rao

I wouldn’t have been who I am without Varavara Rao, and it is true for the generation I come from and the one that followed. Today’s Telangana wouldn’t have been what it is without him. I have written and spoken about him and his poetry in the past, but now he is on the deathbed, in a faraway hospital, being subjected to retributive torture by the powers that be. Now, with a never-before urgency, I want to speak and write about him, through an interminable torrent of words.
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Arrests Politically Motivated – Sedition, Counterterrorism Laws Used to Silence Dissent

Arrests Politically Motivated – Sedition, Counterterrorism Laws Used to Silence Dissent

By Human Rights Watch

(New York) The Indian authorities are increasingly bringing politically motivated cases, including under severe sedition and terrorism laws, against critics of the government, Human Rights Watch said today. The authorities should immediately drop baseless charges against activists, academics, student leaders, and others, and unconditionally release those in custody.
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Umar Khalid arrest: Erosion of democracy hasn’t been as blatant, ‘save Emergency rule’

Counteverview / by Counterview Desk/ Campaign Against State Repression (CASR)

In a statement, CASR said, “Following the model of the Bhima Koregaon-Elgaar Parishad case, the Delhi Police appears to be determined to target those who have spoken out against the communal discriminatory Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), National Registry of Citizens (NRC) and the National Population Register (NPR) instead of those who incited the violence in North East Delhi leading to the death of over 50 persons, injuries to several hundred, loss of livelihood and displacement of thousands, particularly Muslim residents of the area.”
Read full statement

Stop crying wolf over democracy, enjoy the quality of sheep’s clothing

Economic Times / by T K Arun

… In the cases registered by the Delhi police, the focus is solely on those who protested against CAA. BJP leaders who held rallies, threatening to take the law into their own hands if the anti-CAA protests were not lifted, are off the police radar.
This playbook looks as if it has been copied from the police action in the wake of the Bhima-Koregaon violence, which saw a Dalit activist killed and several injured during an attack on Dalit celebration of the 200 th anniversary of the victory of Mahar troops of the British East India Company over the Peshwa’s army, ending Peshwa rule once and for all.
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Byculla women’s prison – no bed or ceiling fan and a fear of covid-19 outbreak

Byculla women’s prison – no bed or ceiling fan and a fear of covid-19 outbreak

Live Mint / by Omkar Khandekar

The Byculla women’s prison complex has several high profile prisoners apart from the actor Rhea Chakraborty, including Shoma Sen, Sudha Bharadwaj and Indrani Mukherjea.
… Despite the opacity around India’s custody and incarceration system, reports over the years on the condition inside paint a poor picture of the prison.
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Protests at Pune District Collectorate: Activists demand release of Kabir Kala Manch members

Protests at Pune District Collectorate: Activists demand release of Kabir Kala Manch members

Pune, Sep 14, pics shared via fb by Kabir Kala Manch

Bhima Koregaon Shauryadin Prerna Abhiyaan demands release of Kabir Kala Manch members, seeks SIT probe

14/09/2020

The Indian Express / by Express News Service

Members of the Bhima Koregaon Shauryadin Prerna Abhiyaan held protests at the Pune District Collectorate on Monday against the arrests of Kabir Kala Manch (KKM) members and demanded that a special investigation team (SIT) be formed to probe the issue.
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Videos: With Hany Babu: Political Voices for Social Justice / Free All BK Human Rights Defenders

Videos: With Hany Babu: Political Voices for Social Justice / Free All BK Human Rights Defenders

Video: With Prof. Hany Babu – Political Voices for Social Justice

By Dalit Camera

Webinar: With Prof. Hany Babu – Political Voices for Social Justice

To watch video recording (english) via fb click:
Dalit Camera

Speakers include:
Dr. Udit Raj, Ex-MP, National Spokesperson, AICC
T.K.S. Elangovan, MP Rajya Sabha, DMK
Prof. Manoj Kumar Jha, MP Rajya Sabha, RJD
K. Ambujakshan, Welfare Party of India
Anoop V.R, Indian Youth Congress
Rajkumar Saini, ex MP, Loktantra Suraksha Party
P. Rajeev, ex MP, CPI(M)
Annie Raja, CPI
K.K. Ragesh, MP Sabha CPI (M)
E.T. Mohammed Basheer, MP, Lok Sabha, IUML
Coordinator: Vinayakala Korvi
Chair: Premjish Achari
Curator and Art Critic
Concluding Remarks: N Sachin

Video: Free All Bhima Koregaon Human rights Defenders and Repeal Draconian UAPA

11/09/2020

By Baat Adhikar Ki

Webinar: Free All Bhima Koregaon Human rights Defenders and Repeal Draconian UAPA!

To watch video recording (hindi) via fb click:
Bahujan Sanvad (select videos)

Who are the three Kabir Kala Manch artistes arrested in the Bhima Koregaon case this week?

Who are the three Kabir Kala Manch artistes arrested in the Bhima Koregaon case this week?

The crushing power of street performances from the margins:
A profile of Kabir Kala Manch’s Sagar Gorkhe, Jyoti Jagtap and Ramesh Gaichor

02/09/2021

By The Polis Project and maraa

Kabir Kala Manch
Kabir Kala Manch (KKM) is an urban grass-roots performance group at the helm of a socio-political movement rooted in cultural struggles of the most marginalized communities in India. KKM was formed by working-class youth from low-income Dalit and Bahujan caste communities in Pune as a response to the 2002 pogrom in Gujarat. Drawing inspiration from India’s legacy of dissent – from Kabir and Sant Tukoba (Tukaram) to Dr Bhim Rao Ambedkar, Jyotiba and Savitri Phule, Bhagat Singh, Annubhai Sathe and contemporary cultural activists such as Sambhaji Bhagat and Vilas Goghre – KKM write and perform Marathi and Hindi songs and street plays in the language of India’s laboring people.
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Who are the three Kabir Kala Manch artistes arrested in the Bhima Koregaon case this week?

12/09/2020

Scroll.in / by Aarefa Johari

The National Investigation Agency arrested Sagar Gorkhe, Ramesh Gaichor and Jyoti Jagtap from Pune on Monday and Tuesday.
In 2002, as a 19-year-old student in Pune’s Wadia College, Ramesh Gaichor was disturbed by the deadly communal violence in Gujarat that had claimed over 1,000 lives. Passionate about poetry and theatre, he soon found an outlet for expressing his anxieties: the Kabir Kala Manch, a cultural organisation founded by artiste Amarnath Chautaliya in response to the Gujarat riots.
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